The present invention relates in general to mineral winning installations and especially, but not solely, to coal-winning installations.
In longwall coal face workings, it is well known to utilize a plough which is moved back and forth alongside the coal face and which is supported and guided by guide means mounted on a scraper-chain conveyor. Usually, the motive force is supplied to the plough by means of a chain which runs in guide channels formed in the guide means. It is also known to equip the plough with low-pressure water emission nozzles for dust depression purposes. U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,751 describes a plough construction of this known type.
To extract coal, particularly in a short face working or head gallery, it is also known to adopt the so-called hydraulic method of winning, where high pressure jets of water impact of the coal face. German Pat. No. 2,307,413 and U.K. Pat. No. 672,336 describe known forms of hydraulic winning installations. Normal cutting tools can operate in addition to the high pressure water jets. Problems can occur in winning coal by water jets from thin and/or faulty seems where the relatively soft coal is interspersed with harder rock and the supply of high pressure water to the nozzles sometimes pressure difficulties.
A general object of this invention is to provide an improved installation for efficient winning of minerals, particularly coal, with high pressure fluid jets.